Oh and what about gaming?

Lots of people who are NOT white cis straight men made critical contributions:

1. Jerry Lawson
2. Roberta Williams
3. Shigeru Miyamoto
4. Danielle Bunten Berry
5. Carol Shaw

Each of these names are important to the history of video games.

To be clear, I sure as hell am not absolving white cis straight men from legit critique.

I'm just hoping that when well-meaning people make a critique, they do not ignore contributions from people who are NOT white cis straight men.

By giving white straight cis men credit for everything—including the Fediverse—you're giving white straight cis men the *opportunity* to take credit for everything.

So stop doing that. Knock it off.

Also, it bugs me that as the Fediverse explodes in popularity, the media once again credits white straight cis men for the work.

By the way, this is one reason I'm **insistent** about referring to this place as the Fediverse, and always correct people when they refer to the whole thing as Mastodon.

No, Mastodon is just one initiative that makes the whole thing work. It functions because a diverse community of people made it possible.

Also, if I haven't made it apparent already, people of colour (POC) make key contributions to the Fediverse's development.

Example: Misskey, one of the most popular Fediverse software, is made by Asian folks.

Another key piece of misinformation: the Fediverse is *not* a platform.

The Fediverse *is* a collection of open protocols, software, and instances.

It is diverse in nature because the people who continue to make it are also diverse.

A lot of people who comment on my threads think I'm a primary contributor to the Fediverse.

Not true whatsoever.

Along with a team, I help develop a federated audio and video app.

I'd like this Fediverse app to be popular, much like any developer would like their app to be popular.

But so far, my contributions pale in comparison to the many others who build the Fediverse.

If Fediverse contributors were a basketball team, I would be the equivalent of a bench warmer called up from the G League.

Right now, I'm yelling "Go team!" as @cwebber sinks yet another 3 pointer from half court.

My point: just because someone who you *perceive* as white straight cis male (e.g., me) makes a viral thread about the Fediverse, that doesn't mean they define the Fediverse.

That's kind of like assuming that anyone wearing a suit and tie in an office is a CEO.

some great points in this thread, thank you very much for speaking about this.

I would like to add a thought (hopefully not too misinformed) to the puzzle: as far as I've read in 5 active years on fedi (been around since identica), big factor for many mastodon moderation tools are result of pressure on Eugen from marginalised groups that escaped bird-abuse, and this has not been cooperative relationship. there's been number of attempts at hard forks too.

I feel some of the unhappiness with state of fedi software and where it came from is a de facto stronghold on most popular microblog fedi software by a white cis man. indeed there were number of features requested by queer/trans folk that went into masto, but also seemingly number of them were rejected.

what I'm trying to say that it's far from black and white picture but more of a complex web of different interests and power positions.